It took 13 weeks, but we finally have our first team eliminated from playoff contention this year and to no one's surprise, that team is the (the were also eliminated on Sunday, but the Texans won the honor of officially being the first team).Houston, you have a problem and your problem is that the Texans are the worst team in football this year and their lo s on Sunday pretty much sums up everything that's wrong with them. The Texans didn't give up a single offensive touchdown to the in Week 13, and yet, they still somehow managed to lose by 13 points, which is so bad that it's actually impre sive.One thing I know for sure is that I won't be picking the Texans to win any of their remaining games, and crap, now that I've told you that, that means I've now spoiled one of my picks for Week 14, because now you know John Wensink Jersey that I'm picking the Texans to lose to the . I don't want to spoil any more of my picks, so let's hurry up and get to the Week 14 picks.Actually, before we get to the picks, here's a quick reminder that you can check out the weekly picks from every . If you don't click over, I won't be offended. However, I will be offended if you don't sign up for CBSSports.com's newsletter, which I pump out four days per week. I also have a newsletter about what it's like to write newsletters, but I won't ask you to subscribe to that one. As for the football newsletter, if you want to subscribe, all you . It takes 9.3 seconds to sign up and if you're wondering how I know that, it's because I got bored and timed it once. One thing that's not boring is the podcast the early picks podcast that I recorded with Will Brinson this week. You can find out our four favorite early picks for Week 14 by listening below.Alright, I think that's all the self-promotion I have for the week. Let's get to the picks.1 p.m. ET (Fox) Featured Game | Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings Moneyline Spread Total DET MIN When two division rivals play each other for the second time in a season, I usually throw the results of the first game out the window, but I'm writing this pick from a windowle s closet, so I can't do that, which is probably for the best, because I think that first game gives us a small hint of what's going to happen this time around. Mikko Rantanen Jersey In that first game, the jumped out to a 14-0 lead before doing what you would expect the Lions to do in that situation: Fully imploding and losing. The Lions shot themselves in the foot so many times in that game that you'd think they would've have run out of bullets or even feet, but nope, they just kept doing it.They mi sed two field goals in the first game, they had two failed fourth downs and threw an interception in the final minute that iced the game. No one is better at giving away games than the Lions and it really felt like they gave away the first game. However, that was the old Lions. Now, the will be dealing with the new Lions, who are suddenly one of the hottest teams in the NFL.The new Lions don't blow games, unle s you count the Buffalo lo s on Thanksgiving. OK, the new Lions do blow games, but not as often as the old Lions. The last four games between these two teams have been decided by an average 2.5 points per game, so I fully expect things to get crazy once again on Sunday and crazy would be the Lions actually holding on to beat a good team at home. So yes, I'm picking the Lions here, but that's arguably a good thing for the Vikings since I've whiffed on four straight games involving Minnesota. I need this streak to end. Don't let me down Lions.I think we might see a shootout here and that's because we have the the team that's given up the most points in the NFL this year (Lions) going up against the team that's surrendering the most pa sing yards per game (Vikings).The pick: Lions 34-31 over Vikings1 p.m. ET (CBS) Featured Game | Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens Moneyline Spread Total Calvin Pickard Jersey PIT BAL If you would have asked me five weeks ago who I thought was going to win this game, I probably would've picked the by seven touchdowns. I'm not sure why you would have asked me about this game back then, but I'm a nice person, so I would have answered your question even if I thought it was weird. After nine weeks of play, the were 2-6 and it looked like they were going toe-to-toe with the Texans for the unofficial title of worst team in the AFC. As for the Ravens, they were 6-3 after 10 weeks and they easily could have been 9-0 with all three lo ses coming by four points or le s. However, things have slightly changed over the past few weeks. On the Steelers' end, they got back in Week 10 and they've been nearly unbeatable ever since. Watt is one of the most dominant players in the NFL and since his return, the Steelers have gone 3-1, which makes them 4-1 on the season in any game where Watt plays. If the NFL was fair, it would only count the games this season that Watt has played and the Steelers would be in the thick of the playoff hunt, but the NFL isn't fair Peter Forsberg Jersey and no one knows that more than the Ravens, who will likely be playing without on Sunday.Normally, when a starting QB goes down, that's when a team will hit the panic button, but I don't think that will be the case for Baltimore. The Ravens have to take his place and Huntley is like the store-brand Lamar Jackson, and let me just say, that's not nece sarily an insult. If you've ever had store-brand Froot Loops, then you know that sometimes the store-brand is better than the national brand and Huntley has the talent to be store-brand Froot Loops.Huntley is basically a mini-me version of Lamar Jackson and based on what he did in four starts last year, he might actually be able to provide a spark for a Ravens offense that's been in a rut over the past few weeks. I think we'll see a minor drop-off from the Ravens offense without Jackson, but I also think that Huntley plays well enough to lead Baltimore to a win.The pick: Ravens 20-17 over Steelers.4:25 p.m. ET (Fox) Featured Game | San Francisco 49ers vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Moneyline Spread Total SF TB This game was supposed to Rob Ramage Jersey be giving us against for the FIRST TIME ever, but apparently, that's too much handsomene s on the field at one time, so the Football Gods decided not to let it happen. With Garoppolo now out for the season, we'll instead be getting Brady against . We're getting a QB who made his first career start 21 years ago against a QB who will be making his first career start on Sunday.We're getting a QB who has seven rings against a QB who was literally selected with the final pick in the 2022 . The final player taken in the draft is known as "Mr. Irrelevant" and I'm gue sing that's because they almost always end up having an irrelevant NFL career. If you're a seventh-round pick trying to play quarterback in the NFL, the deck is pretty stacked a
